This week, we’re talking about long-term care and why it’s important to make some decisions today about how you’re going to pay for long-term care in retirement.

Today we’re covering the statistics about long-term care to help you understand the harsh and expensive reality of paying for long-term care.

First of all, let’s talk about the likelihood that you’ll need long-term care in the first place. According to a 2017 study by AARP, if you’re 65 or older, there is a 52% chance that you will need some type of long-term care in your lifetime. 52%. Toss a coin and it could go either way. So the odds are pretty high.

If you’re a woman, the odds are even higher - it’s a 58% chance that you’ll need long-term care.

On average, a man will need long-term care for 1 ½ years while a woman will need long-term care for 2 ½ years. One of the downsides of living longer for us women is that we will usually require long-term care more often and for longer periods of time.

Now let’s talk about the financial cost of long-term care.

The median annual cost for long-term care ranges from $18,000 for adult day care to $97,000 for a private room in a nursing home.

If you require long-term care for an extended period or if you develop dementia or Altzheimer’s, the costs skyrocket. The estimated lifetime cost of care for someone with dementia is $341,840.

And 15% of us will spend more than $250,000 on long-term care in our lifetime.

Those costs can wipe out your wealth, which is why it’s so important to understand your options and protect yourself.

That’s it for today! Thanks for listening.

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

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